The Forum Marsyas on 1st-c. CE lamps

Dados Bibliográficos

ID12373150
AutoresRobyn Le Blanc (University of North Carolina at Greensboro, autor correspondente)
Ano2024
Volume37
Fascículo2
Páginas601-619
Data de publicação2024-12-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournal of Roman Archaeology (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1047-7594 • E-ISSN: 2331-5709
EditoraCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s1047759424000333
OpenAlexW4407293511
IdiomaEN
Referências citadas25

A 1st-c. CE lamp from Cyprus, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, features a discus design of a satyr on a base before an enclosure. Formerly identified as a nude silenus, the design on this lamp and others with the same decoration in fact illustrates a motif after the Forum Marsyas statue from the Forum Romanum. The statue is typically understood as a symbol of civic libertas , and copies were erected in provincial fora and depicted on civic coinage in the 2nd and 3rd c. CE. This note argues that the lamps enhance our understanding of the Forum Marsyas in two respects. First, the lamps demonstrate that the motif was in provincial circulation ahead of the sculptural and numismatic trend. Second, it is now clear that the Forum Marsyas was used in private contexts, and potentially with a non-civic meaning, more extensively than previously understood. The lamps are therefore significant for understanding the provincial spread and legibility of this important but still enigmatic motif

Art · Ancient Mediterranean Archaeology and History · Archaeological and Historical Studies · Classical Antiquity Studies